MEMBER PROFILE Leicestershire farmers W E Bottterill & Son

Television stardom for our geese

The Botterill family based in the small Leicestershire village of Croxton Kerrial have been producing free range poultry for over 20 years after starting with just 27 geese. As demand for their birds grew, so did the flock size to number 1500 now. The farm also produces around 3000 free range bronze turkeys which also go to the Christmas celebrations.

Gerald and wife Ann first started producing geese in the late 1980’s. At the time returns from the arable farm were low and so it made sense to look at other enterprises and diversify the business. The poultry fitted well with the arable business, utilising straw and grain produced on the farm and also labour that was not busy during the slack winter period.

As the business grew, the farm has hosted on two occasions the annual goose walk for the ‘Goose sector group of the British Poultry Council’. As Gerald says “We have gained such a lot from the autumn farm walks we thought that we should host it and invite the other producers to come and see what we do”.

The geese can be seen grazing in paddocks around the village and the daily spectacle of driving the geese along the village street to the fields has become quite a local attraction. Gerald’s son Richard tells us 'We regularly get people stopping to photograph the birds as the make their way their paddocks. We have also had a couple of television appearances with the geese, of course, being the stars'.

The Botterills are proud of the care they take of the birds. The goslings arrive at day old, are reared in small groups and then allowed daily access to fresh paddocks around the farm. All the birds are housed at night to protect them from foxes. In the run-up to Christmas the birds are prepared in the purpose-built processing plant which contains cold rooms to help with the maturing of the geese and turkeys.

Like many farms. Lings View farm is a family run business. Richard’s wife Jo looks after the ordering side and many of the staff who help out at Christmas have become firm friends and part of the family. - www.freerangebirds.co.uk

Richard Botterill with his goslings

You'll find another picture of the geese
being driven through the village street
on the home page.